TPA Praises House for Passing RED Tape Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kara Zupkus (224) 456-0257

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) applauded the House for passing the “RED Tape Act,” legislation that would eliminate costly, duplicative requirements in the Clean Air Act. That law granted the Environmental Protection Agency authority to assess and provide feedback on environmental impact statements already prepared by other agencies under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In response to House passage of the legislation, Ross Marchand, Executive Director of TPA, offered the following comment:

“For too long, Washington has tolerated a regime of environmental review in which one federal agency evaluates a project for months, only for another agency to then step in and needlessly repeat much of the same work. The RED Tape Act is a welcome move to dispense with this wasteful duplication.

“This redundant process has imposed real costs on the economy, not only in paperwork and compliance expenses, but also in delays, uncertainty, and foregone investment. Every added layer of review by unaccountable bureaucrats means more time before roads, energy infrastructure, and manufacturing facilities are built. Add thereto the higher costs that projects must absorb. At a time when lawmakers should be focused on lowering costs and facilitating the nation’s productive activities, this process is absurdity mixed with self-sabotage.

“Under NEPA, it already takes an average of 70 months for an infrastructure project to gain approval. Onerous regulations unnecessarily delay federal construction projects, permitting decisions, approvals, and other federal actions. This adds billions of dollars to project costs across industries, including energy, manufacturing, and transportation. Unelected bureaucrats enjoy extensive discretion and have assumed enormous policymaking power that ought to rest with Congress. Scrapping nonsensical red tape such as duplicative environmental review is a bare-minimum reform toward greater permitting certainty, more and cheaper infrastructure projects, and lower costs for American consumers.

“TPA applauds the House for advancing commonsense permitting reform. The Senate should act quickly to pass the RED Tape Act and continue its wider work of cutting regulation, reducing cumbersome regulation, and clearing the way for greater affordability and growth.”

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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.